Paintings have a truly unique power,
they can and should beautifully present things...

That do not normally occur in the real world,
that you can't just snap a picture of.

I am currently working on a group of silly animals,
who are not in proportion to each other.

They have proportions,
that make a person smile.

More over,
I think I may dress them up, for adventure.

In a portrait I am hoping to somewhat finish today,
I am creating a crown of butterflies.

Where butterflies chose,
to land in a fairie's hair.

Photography wouldn't really work here,
nor would digital photo composition.

As the butterflies for example,
have to create a song together.

Splicing photos together can only go so far,
here the butterflies will need to shine bright and look cheerful.

They can't look flat, they have to cast correct shadows,
and somewhat surprisingly they can't just be a random selection of butterflies.

They need to create a color theme,
privately I can think of two themes Monarch Orange, and Dragonfly Iridescence.

I just tested random butterflies,
and they created confusion - it is great to confuse birds...

But not so good,
for a Fairie's Crown which is meant to be pretty.

And while photography and photo manipulation is an art,
once you need to give your butterflies correct shadows...

You are painting,
I don't care if it is called retouching - because what it really is, is digital painting.

While dressing up a cat for adventure,
is an amazing project, especially is your cat has a super short fuse...

It is probably better to take a photo of the kitty,
who will no doubt be furiously trying to figure out what the heck you are up to.

And then dress up a doll,
and splice the pictures together.

At which point, one will have more artistic freedom,
when just painting the clothes on, using photos as reference.

It would be unfair to burden a clever photographer,
with so much custom alterations.

That is where a digital painter,
comes in.

So, digital photography, can go far,
but...it gets harder and harder as you go deeper and deeper into the worlds of fantasy.

Digital painting, on the other hand, especially when using digital photography as reference,
makes the entry into the worlds of fantasy fun and easy.

Moreover, your painting will become much better if you take a moment,
to remember; to paint beyond what digital photography and editing is capable of.

You want photographers to look at your painting and and say,
"Well, shucks I couldn't take a photo like that in a million years."

Let the world of photography belong to photographers,
as to you - the digital painter - belongs the world... of fantasy.